Our Changing Images of God: A Jungian Perspective
The ways in which human beings imagine God are never static. They shift over centuries, reflecting not only theological debates but also profound transformations in human consciousness, culture, and as I have shown in previous articles, our psychology - each shift revealing something about the inner landscape of the human soul. Carl Jung invites us to read this unfolding not as doctrinal confusion but as psychological evolution. The God-image changes because we change, it evo
Psychology and Spirituality: Growing Up and Waking Up
The invitation is to weave these two journeys together. Growing up helps bring tenderness to my own humanity, while waking up reminds me that my identity is larger than the struggles I face. Together, they invite a way of being that is both deeply human and gently transcendent.
Spirituality & Religion
In today's Western world, there can be a marked separation between spirituality and religion. Public opinion now privileges 'spirituality' above 'religion,' with the latter being regarded with a good deal of suspicion. 'Spirituality', as the term is used today, refers to the personal pursuit of the sacred. 'Religion', however, carries the unfortunate connotations of moralism, piety and hypocrisy. This has been exasperated by recent unearthed widespread sexual abuse in Christi
Knowing God: Wholeness & Self-Knowledge
The spiritual journey has always been understood as a journey of transformation — not only of belief, but of the whole person. Across the Christian tradition, wisdom teachers have recognised that knowing God and knowing ourselves are inseparable movements of the same deepening process. This article reflects on how self-knowledge and wholeness belong at the heart of an authentic spiritual life. Wholeness, Self-Knowledge, and the Spiritual Life In our contemporary world, we und
Spiritual Life & Our Images of God
If we are a follower of a spiritual path then our images of God (or the sacred) are key. When we try to pray, we must have some idea of God in our minds, and this idea will influence how we pray and whether we pray. It will also influence our behaviour and ethics, often without our conscious awareness. Why Our Images of God Matter But our images of God are not the same as our ideas about God. Inner images are pictures not abstract ideas; they are a powerful combination of tho
Spiritual Life and Our Emotions Part 3 : Practical Prayer
Having looked at some of the benefits and challenges of our emotions in the spiritual life and journey, we can now explore some practical ancient ways of meditative prayer to facilitate this process. The key is to find, and rest in, a place of undefended awareness where we can open to the divine with intention of heart in the midst of our emotional turmoil; returning again and again to the unconditional divine embrace that offers us this freedom of heart. So, below, I explor
Spiritual Pathology
Spirituality is often assumed to be inherently life-giving and benign. Yet, like every dimension of human experience, it is shaped by our inner world — including our unresolved wounds, fears, and unconscious patterns. This article explores how spiritual life itself can become distorted, not because spirituality is false, but because it is taken up into the very places within us that most need healing. Spiritual pathology describes how we can distort and undermine our spiritua
Living With Paradox
Paradox and the Limits of Linear Thinking In our Western world many people suffer from an inability to live with paradox and contradiction. We have largely lost touch with paradoxical, mystical, or contemplative ways of thinking in an education system with its basis in formal laws of logic and linearity, which has an unfortunate tendency to reinforce either/ or dualistic thinking. The startling idea that truth can be multi-layered, unpredictable and contradictory is generally
The Wisdom of Imperfection
Rob Preece, a Buddhist spiritual mentor I am privileged to know, recently wrote a book entitled 'The Wisdom of Imperfection.' An excellent book understanding that, at heart, the spiritual journey involves encompassing all that we are, not a striving for a state of perfection, and encouraging us to have compassion on our vulnerability and fallibility as we travel our path. But this is not a new idea, although it is one we have great need of continually revisiting. In the Chr
Spiritual Life and Our Emotions Part 2 - Spiritual Bypassing
Spiritual bypassing, a term coined by psychologist John Welwood in 1983, is the use of spiritual beliefs and practices to avoid dealing with our painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs. It is pervasive in our culture - both personally and collectively - where we don't have much tolerance or acquired skill to face our pain, preferring instead a numbing analgesic, particularly if it can be seemingly legitimized by 'higher' spiritual goals and values. The c
